Couple recovers $50 million lottery ticket

TORONTO — A Canadian couple endured a roller-coaster ride of emotions when a lottery ticket worth $50 million went missing only to be found and returned by someone at their church.

Hakeem Nosiru won the Jan. 17 Lotto Max draw and was one day away from claiming the money when the signed ticket, which he taped to the inside his wife's purse for safekeeping, was missing after they attended church.

That sparked a frantic search of their home, with garbage bins being upended and their contents picked through, an effort that left Nosiru and his wife — who are originally from Nigeria — empty handed and feeling "miserable.

But that despair turned to joy after a fellow member of the congregation discovered the ticket and reunited it with them on April 1 — a return made possible because Nosiru signed the ticket with their address.

But the saga wasn't over yet, as Nosiru gave the ticket to Ontario Provincial Police, who were investigating the matter for Ontario Lottery and Gaming to ensure there were no further snags.

Everything checked out and Nosiru and his wife Abiola were beaming for the cameras at the OLG prize center Monday, telling reporters they were planning on travelling the world and helping out their family.

Abiola Nosiru said that when she realized her husband's winning ticket had disappeared from her purse "I had a fly in my stomach and I couldn't sleep for days. I couldn't eat. I was devastated."

"We just wanted to see the reality. And the reality is right here now," she said, fighting back tears.

She wasn't sure what they'll do for the woman who ended the ticket's exodus, but told her "I just want to say thank you."

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(1) Taking a lottery ticket to Church, your mind is not on the Sermon and you know it.

(2) Never tape a winning ticket to the inside of a purse, any purse.

Nevertheless- Congratulations and Welcome to the Millionaire's club Mr & Mrs Nosiru!

Agree. I don't know how they could sit through a sermon knowing they've got a winning lottery ticket on their hands. If it were me, I'd be checking my purse every 4.5 seconds to make sure it was still there, so there's no way I'd be hearing any sermon or anything. Wonder how it fell out? She must have pulled something out and the ticket came out with it.

A simple thank you to the woman who found their ticket? Hmmm, hope they change that to a nice fat check later. I'd give her no less than $1million.

As a regular lotto player, besides the hope of winning the big draw one day, there's nothing i love more than a good lotto story. But this is NOT one of them. I HATE stories like this just as much as i hate the stories about unchecked tickets that are winners and end up being unclaimed. So this family KNOWS they have a winning $50 MILLION (tax free) ticket and what do they do...THEY PASTE IT INSIDE A PURSE AND TAKE IT TO CHURCH AND THEN WHEN THEY GET HOME REALIZE ITS GONE?????????? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?????

I'm supposed to be happy for them and in other circumstances I generally am, no really, i love a good rag to riches story but i really cant stand these DUMB stories anymore. Its almost like the universe has this crazy plan about who it'll let win these jackpots just to infuriate the rest of us.

That being said.....good luck to them and all the best to them and their new found wealth. AND STOP BEING SO SILLY YOU TWO!!!!!!!

(and they better give the person that returned the ticket AT LEAST $1 MILLION out of it)

"It's good to have money and the things that money can buy, but it's good, too, to check up once in a while and make sure that you haven't lost the things that money can't buy." - George Lorimer

Congratulation to the winners. WTG to the woman that turned the ticket in she definitely deserves a reward like others said

The person who returned the ticket did so for ONE reason....because he/she spent the entire time between Jan and April trying to figure out if there was a way for them to collect the money for themselves. After realizing that because it was signed there was really no way to collect it, decided to simply turn it in to the rightful owners and hoped/bargained for a reward.

Still deserving of something though I'd say. Had i been the winner, I'd say a cool $1 Million should do the trick.

I also think a "thank you" around $500,000 to $1 million sounds appropriate. Without her returning the ticket, this couple would have ZERO dollars for their win.

I agree with you Mr. Craft. There is a gap in this story.

How did the ticket get taken from her purse? Was it stolen? Did they tell someone at the church that they had the winning ticket in her purse? Where was it found? Who took it? Why did it take so long for this woman to return the ticket to the couple who signed it?

The person who returned the ticket did so for ONE reason....because he/she spent the entire time between Jan and April trying to figure out if there was a way for them to collect the money for themselves. After realizing that because it was signed there was really no way to collect it, decided to simply turn it in to the rightful owners and hoped/bargained for a reward.

Still deserving of something though I'd say. Had i been the winner, I'd say a cool $1 Million should do the trick.

I agree with you DDOH. Someone stole it from them at the church (they must have told someone) and woman realized she couldn't cash a signed ticket.

I agree that this story has many gaps in it. It doesn't mention when the ticket was actually lost and only gives a recovery date of April 1st. For all we know, the couple may have been taking their time contemplating what to actually do with their new found wealth. $50 million net is a mind boggling experience most of us could only hope for.

If perhaps the ticket was lost in February then there are issues but until we know the exact time frame we are all just speculating.